By the time I reached the stretch of New Hartford nearest to Canton, I was far enough behind schedule that I knew I wouldn’t make it on this trek to the village of Collinsville, 1.6 miles off the roadway as the Farmington River flows.

Collinsville played a key role in the development of Route 44, as it was home to the Collins Company, which once sprawled across some 50 buildings and was one of Connecticut’s world-renowned factories, turning out axes and all sorts of other edge tools from 1826 until it closed in 1966. It’s worth mentioning the Canton Historical Museum there; it has many of those tools and tells the story of a true company town, which even brought in a railroad line.

I did stop off at the Collinsville Antiques Co. of New Hartford, a longtime former staple in one of the main old Collins Company buildings, in Collinsville, until it moved to the old Waring Co. factory building in New Hartford nine years ago. Owner Doug Szydlo and his wife, Cindy, who helps run the place and also operates the Cruisin’ Café there, preside over some 100 rented private dealer booths in the former Waring location.

The business left Collinsville after 18 years when the building owner said he was unable to offer a long-term lease; the split grew ugly and still rankles the Szydlos. They lost the antique ambiance of the old place but they rave about all they gained – more drive-by traffic, an open space on one floor that’s brighter and easier to keep clean and the ability to add the café.

“The bottom line is that people will give up a little ambiance if you give them what you want,” Doug Szydlo said.

After the fallout, Cindy said, “We actually had towns that called and asked if we were looking for a place…Simsbury, Farmington.”

Waring Products, makers of blenders and other small appliances, had left for Torrington in 1999, one year after a new owner, Conair Corp., bought the business. Just inside the doors, the Szydlos have maintained the old Waring “Employee Communications Center,” which they use as a bulletin board for business cards, some “Best Of Hartford” awards and the like. They also have some old Waring appliances, which are generally not for sale.

It’s a colorful place to spend an afternoon, as dealers come in with new old stuff. When I was there, Patty Rowland, wife of the former governor and one of the longtime active dealers, was behind the main counter. We talked briefly about the stress of John Rowland’s legal case and about his now suspended WTIC-AM 1080 radio show, which – politics and law aside – a lot of us miss.

And we talked about the national Social Register book that Rowland had for sale (in Booth 32!) from the ‘60s, a window into a world that ended in many ways back then, just as the Collins Co. was closing its doors.

“It takes a good three or four hours to get through here,” Doug Szydlo said.

I tried to prove him right, mainly looking for artifacts about local towns including maps and a game of Farmington Valleyopoly. Local subject matter makes up just about 5 percent of all that’s sold, Doug said.

But time was short since I didn’t arrive until just about closing time. I was too late for the café fare, other than a cone of excellent Buck’s Ice Cream, which is made in Milford – where I’ll stop in if my editors ever let me walk all of Route 1 on the shoreline.

The Café is not just a respite but also a sight, with a Blues Brothers display and ‘50s-style wall paintings by a New Haven graffiti artist name Reo.

The Wilson-Gray YMCA on Albany Avenue in Hartford was a whirlwind when I stopped in. People of all ages packed the full-court gym, teens and some smaller kids strapped on equipment at the three-story climbing wall, a cooking class had just ended and a boxing-exercise class was underway near...